'MPs must back Ed Miliband and Ed Balls to boost Labour'

Challenge: Tony McNulty says Labour must win over the “soft” Tory vote to win in 2015

Former London Minister Tony McNulty today said the shadow cabinet is not pulling its weight as he warned that Labour’s lead over the Tories was falling away.

Mr McNulty praised Ed Miliband and Ed Balls for leading the charge against the Government but said shadow ministers needed to work harder if Labour was to win a majority.

He also said his party should reach out to the “soft Tory vote”, altering its language to engage with “people’s aspirations”.

Labour’s lead over the Tories has plummeted. An IpsosMori survey in the Standard yesterday had the parties tied on 35 points. The former Harrow East MP said: “We have just had a small reshuffle, but generally there is a notion that it’s always Ed and Ed on the economy out there on their own. Where are all the others? It is a team message that has got to be put across and not just by the two people at the top.”

Mr McNulty served as employment minister in Gordon Brown’s government before losing his seat in 2010 and now wants to stand for Labour in Brent Central at the next election.

He said Mr Miliband’s focus on the cost of living was correct and believed the party’s poll ratings would recover if the message was “hammered” — but the party needed to attract wavering Conservative voters: “We must talk about the cost of living in terms of the threat to people’s aspirations. When we are talking about housing, we should talk about how people’s children can’t get on the property ladder.”

Mr McNulty highlighted how Labour averaged a poll lead of between 10 and 12 points earlier this year, now down to four or five. He said: “If we are saying today that the Tories are one point off where they were at the last election, that is something any Labour person worth their salt should worry about.”